We were lucky to catch up with Sophia Parr recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sophia, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
In 2021 I chose to open up an art gallery in a large seasonal tourism community while pursuing my own artwork and growing as an artist full-time. I was so excited, I felt like after years of trying different things and bouncing from job to job I was finally going down a path that was going to be extremely fulfilling. And it was, for a while. Being a creative and making a full-time living for yourself is something any young creative kid might dream about, myself included. However, merging your own artistic endeavors and desires with running a business comes with challenges and setbacks that you aren’t necessarily prepared for.
The biggest challenge for me as an artist and gallery owner is the isolation, especially in a seasonal place where there are busy times followed by extreme slow times. I run my gallery by myself and also obviously create my own artwork by myself. What I wasn’t prepared for, going full-time, was the fact that my days are spent very much alone, without a lot of social interaction aside from my customers. As my second season winds down I find myself craving the ability to work on a team again, with other people, getting lunch or going to happy hour. I’ve learned that the idea of being a creative and the reality of being a creative are vastly different.
In early summer of 2022, I grew a large Instagram following from a viral reel. I dove headfirst into building more of a social media presence and fulfilling the expectations of all of my new followers. It was fun at first, having so many people see my work. My artwork (I make hand drawn maps) lends itself to lots of people engaging with my work and asking questions about what I will draw next. However, over time it added to the isolation I was feeling. I felt like I couldn’t meet people’s expectations and began withdrawing from my Instagram page. I was beginning to feel like my artwork was no longer fun and exciting, it was something I had to do for other people, not myself.
Recently I have begun addressing these feelings and have decided to take back ownership of my artwork and my time. I set boundaries for commission work in which I will take on ideas that I am interested in. This may mean I will never take on another commission, but it also means that every new map I make will have been made with my full attention and interest. I also chose to take on a part-time job at a coffee shop. I am looking forward to working with a team again, meeting new coworkers and spending time just enjoying a part-time job.
Being able to make a full-time living from your art sounds awesome. And it really is. But what I’ve learned in my journey to becoming a full-time artist is that nothing beats the social connections we can make in the workplace as well as ensuring that we always enjoy the artwork we are producing.
Sophia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hi! My name is Sophie Parr and I own Northern Arts, LLC which includes my art gallery, Northern Arts Collective and my own artwork business, Maps by Sophie. In 2019, I was living and working in Madison, Wisconsin when I began drawing maps just for fun. I have always loved maps, in 2016 I received a masters in Urban Planning and practiced in the field for a short while. I enjoyed drawing maps of places I had lived in or loved and started to post them to my Instagram page (at the time I had maybe 350 followers). Once I began posting I started to get requests for maps and established a sole proprietorship to tackle commission requests.
When COVID hit, I relocated to a very rural but very touristy community near my family in Door County, Wisconsin. I was on the cusp of beginning to attend different art shows with my maps but everything was canceled. I had no idea how I was going to grow as an artist without being able to get my work out there so I started to wonder if I could open a gallery. Well, as soon as the thought began to cross my mind, a small retail space opened up near where I lived. In April, 2020 I signed a lease, put out a call for artists and by May 1st I was open. Northern Arts Collective showcases my own work plus over 30 other artists from Wisconsin and the midwest.
I love providing a platform for emerging artists to get their work out there – especially in an arts community like Door County, Wisconsin.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
In May of 2022, I had a reel go viral on my Instagram page for my map artwork. In one week the reel had over 20 million views and I had increased my followers by over 11,000. It was exciting but also very overwhelming. I would get question after question about how I went viral and I had no answer, because I honestly didn’t know. After spending time thinking about it I began to respond with the following advice:
– It’s impossible to know what may or may not go viral. The reel that went viral took me maybe 5 seconds to make. It also went viral about a month after it was posted. But in that month I had posted maybe 30 more reels of myself drawing. At the time I was working on quite a large map and the videos were super simple but also very relaxing for people to watch. So, as soon as one reel began gaining traction I had a whole host of other videos for people to see on my page – which I believe is what led to the increase in followers. So my advice to anyone wanting to build their audience is to not only use Reels, but find a niche for yourself in what you post. My niche was 5-10 second videos of a portion of a drawing with super chill music. Since then I’ve jumped on other Reel trends but ultimately my following grew from those initial videos. I was also extremely consistent, posting two times a day (which was easy for me because I was drawing every day at that point).
Have you ever had to pivot?
Recently I made a big change to my map business and how I choose maps to draw. Both on social media and at my gallery I am constantly getting asked about commissions and if I can draw this or draw that. It’s so flattering if someone wants a map and I am grateful that the interest is there. Early on I was under the impression that commissions were going to be a huge part of my art business. Why wouldn’t they be? What I have learned though is that as soon as your artwork becomes an expectation it can lose its meaning. This may just be my own personal opinion but it’s based on my experience.
I pour hours into each map. I spend time looking at the right composition that will make each place look the most interesting. I use math to ensure the scale and proportion will be as close to accurate as possible. I think of past memories I have of a place or even go visit to remind myself or see for myself what the area looks like. And that’s all before I even begin drawing. I am not an illustrator, I draw exactly what I see and have little creative ability to merge areas or add illustrations or other unique features to maps. It is very hard to explain the energy I put into each piece, especially because in the end it just looks like a little drawing of a map.
I used to take on a certain number of commission every once in a while and would draw any place someone wanted. But my motivation to draw places that I did not have a connection with or a desire to draw diminished greatly to the point where I missed many deadlines and felt as though I was disappointing my clients. I decided that I’d rather deal with the disappointment of telling people I don’t take commissions than the disappointment of taking on a commission and not meeting their expectations. So now I only draw maps that I want. It can seem a little selfish in a way but I have found that I’m back to drawing for myself and regaining the interest I had originally when I started to draw maps.
Contact Info:
- Website: mapsbysophie.com
- Instagram: @mapsbysophie
Image Credits
Miluzka McCarthy